Cape Town – Many city commuters were left stranded on Tuesday morning at train stations in Cape Town.

News24 spoke to a Metrorail official who explained that delays on the Simon’s Town line going through the southern suburbs were due to an accident that had happened on Monday. A truck had apparently damaged electric cabling at a crossing, affecting signalling. “It was chaos,” said a News24 user who did not want to be named. She spent an hour-and-a-half at Kenilworth train station, waiting to get a train to come to work. “People were pushing like crazy, jumping over the tracks and hanging out of windows.”

She said a train arrived at the station but did not leave. The power went off and came on again and some commuters got off the train, crossing the tracks to get to another train, which they thought might leave soon. She asked an official what was going on and was told about the accident, which apparently happened between Retreat and Muizenberg stations on the Simon’s Town line on Monday. She eventually left the station and got a lift to work.

Metrorail had said trains on the line would be delayed for the week.

Metrorail’s regional marketing and communications manager Riana Scott could not be reached on Wednesday morning for comment on the delays.